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I didn't really keep up with my tournament blow-by-blows this year, but I have been judging. There have been way fewer tournaments this year; like, maybe one a month instead of every three weeks that was last year. However, I spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in Santa Fe, judging the state tournament. It was a lot of fun, and exhausting, and very hard. Nearly everyone I judged was at the top of their class from the onset, and deciding between them was often a matter of razor-thin semantics rather than who was actually more talented, especially in the later rounds, when they competitors had really been whittled down to the best.
( Thursday )
I had a car brusher/scraper, but over the summer it melted and the bristles fused, so over Christmas, when we were in Indianapolis, we got one for each car. Unfortunately I forgot that Santa Fe is significantly colder than Albuquerque and gets more precipitation, so I did not have the brush in my car on Friday, when we got snow. I also hadn't brought a jacket, so I now have a lined windbreaker with Santa Fe Community College's logo. It was at SFCC where the second and third days of the tournament were held. SFCC is... unique. Suffice to say that most of the building were interconnected except for two which were not, but one of the two wasn't exactly standalone. Also, room numbers were not necessarily consecutive, and sometimes jumped by dozens from one room to the next. It was an experience.
( Friday )
( Saturday )
After finishing the final round I cut out. I don't hang around to watch awards ceremonies since I don't want to be prejudiced for future tournaments. It's especially crucial in this case, since the next tournament is going to be qualifiers for nationals. I didn't judge states last year but I did do national qualifiers. NQs are being held in Albuquerque at the same place they were last year, so I'll have familiarity in the city and in the venue. I may have to miss some of the judging for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra show, but I'll know more once they've posted the dates for NQs.
( Thursday )
I had a car brusher/scraper, but over the summer it melted and the bristles fused, so over Christmas, when we were in Indianapolis, we got one for each car. Unfortunately I forgot that Santa Fe is significantly colder than Albuquerque and gets more precipitation, so I did not have the brush in my car on Friday, when we got snow. I also hadn't brought a jacket, so I now have a lined windbreaker with Santa Fe Community College's logo. It was at SFCC where the second and third days of the tournament were held. SFCC is... unique. Suffice to say that most of the building were interconnected except for two which were not, but one of the two wasn't exactly standalone. Also, room numbers were not necessarily consecutive, and sometimes jumped by dozens from one room to the next. It was an experience.
( Friday )
( Saturday )
After finishing the final round I cut out. I don't hang around to watch awards ceremonies since I don't want to be prejudiced for future tournaments. It's especially crucial in this case, since the next tournament is going to be qualifiers for nationals. I didn't judge states last year but I did do national qualifiers. NQs are being held in Albuquerque at the same place they were last year, so I'll have familiarity in the city and in the venue. I may have to miss some of the judging for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra show, but I'll know more once they've posted the dates for NQs.
